Verus Benevolentia
by Hika Yagami
Summary: Kindness is just something people act on so they can gain something from it. There's no such thing as True Kindness. That is what one girl always thought all her life. Takes place after TMM a la Mode. CHAPTER 2 IS FINALLY UP!
1. Arriving in Japan

AN: For those who are wondering "Why didn't you ever do the last chapter of Mew Mew Abduction?", my answer is simply this: 4Kids lost the rights, they aren't doing any new episodes and they don't even air them anymore. So, basically, I've lost inspiration to do the last chapter. I'll try to get to it when I feel up to it. I'm more in the mood for a serious fanfic right now.

So anyways, on to the first chapter of my new story!

**Verus Benevolentia: Chapter 1**

"Ribbon Double Berry Check!!!"

A whole flock of Chimera Birds turn back to normal as the Para Para fly around. Masha and Ucha immediately went to work collecting them. Six girls landed in front of a cheering crowd, receiving praise for saving Tokyo once again. 2 girls, one wearing a pink dress with black cat ears and a tail and the other wearing creamy white with bunny ears and a cat tell stepped up in front of the other girls.

"Thank you, everyone!" shouted the girl in white who goes by the name of Berry Shirayuki or Mew Berry when she was in this form.

"You can always count on us to serve for you, nya!" announced the girl in pink, known as Ichigo Momomiya or Mew Ichigo.

"Enough showing off, girls!" commanded Ryou Shirogane, a boy in is mid teens with blond hair and crystal blue eyes, "We have to hurry back to the café."

"Shirogane, you don't have to be such a grouch about it," Ichigo said as she transformed back to normal.

The rest of the girls, known as Tokyo Mew Mew, changed back as well. The headed to the red car, belonging to the long-haired brunette Keiichiro Akasaka who is the head chef of the café they all worked at.

Ichigo went to the side of the car that Ryou was at. "Shirogane," Ichigo started, "Why are all these Chimera Anima appearing lately? The Saint Rose Crusaders are gone and we're on good terms with the aliens still, aren't we?

Ryou sighed, "To be honest, I haven't received any transmissions from the aliens for the past month."

"This is getting so troublesome," complained Mint, the blue Mew Mew, "Right now, it's even I have to come up with excuses to leave home and ballet classes. People are getting suspicious."

"I know it's hard but we're just going to have to deal with it the best way we can," Ryou tried to explain," I'll try to contact the aliens but don't expect much since their communications are down. We'll meet you back at the café."

With that, the car drove off leaving the girls to walk to the café themselves. Ichigo stared until the car was out of sight. Then she turned to the other girls.

"Let's go back then."

All of the Mew Mews began to walk to the café. The green-haired girl with glasses, named Lettuce, hesitatingly started to talk.

"Umm...Do you think everything's really going to be okay?...I mean, what if something bad happened to Pai-san and the others?"

"No need to worry na no da!!" shouted the youngest Mew Mew named Pudding, "Tar Tar and the others are strong na no da! They can handle anything no da! If something bad happens then they'll fly up na no da!!"

Right when she said that, she jumped into the trees.

"And they'll take out their weapons, like Pai Onii-chan's fan thingy...," she explained while taking out a huge fan prop out of nowhere," And they'll attack the bad guys like this no da!!" she said as she swung the fan, "Kuu-Rai-Sen na no da!!"

WOOOOOSH!!! A huge gust of wind, caused by the fan, blew strongly at the other girls causing them to scream, except for the purple Mew Mew named Zakuro who remained silent as always.

"Pudding!!" Ichigo yelled, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"I was just showing you what the aliens would do when there was trouble na no da."

Berry took out a compact mirror and looked at herself, "My hair is ruined!!!!"

Ichigo tried not to laugh, "Don't worry. I'll help fix it up once we get back to the café."

--------------------------------------

While the girls walked, Ryou was busy looking through the data on his laptop on the car ride back. Keiichiro glanced at him every now and again until finally he broke the silence.

"Ryou?"

"What?"

"What do you think is happening?"

"I didn't want to say this in front of the girls but new Para Para have been appearing on Earth. I think the aliens are responsible."

"But we're on peaceful terms with them."

"It might not be the same ones. It might be possible that some of them still aren't satisfied with the current situations they're in."

"What are we going to do?"

"I'm not sure. But until I find out what we're dealing with, it's best we stay on alert and keep doing what we're doing."

---------------------------------------

A bus stops near Inohara park and opens the door. A long raven-haired girl with bright blue eyes steps out of the bus and looks around. Seeing that there was only trees, she kept walking until she came to some buildings.

"So...this is Tokyo, Japan," she said to herself as she took her wallet out. She opened it and counted her money.

"30 euro...how much is that in yen?"

She then took out a small brochure and a calculator, sat on a bench and started punching numbers.

"About 4,868 yen...Not enough for a hotel room for the night and a ticket out of here tomorrow," she sighed," I don't have much of a choice. As much as I hate the thought of it, I need to get a job until I can afford it."

She continues walking until she comes to another park and starts walking along the path until she comes along a 2 story pink café. She stares at it for a few minutes.

"...Pink...talk about an eyesore...But I guess being a maid waitress might be better than being a janitor like my last temporary job."

She then looks at a sign, "Café Mew Mew...weird."

She opens the door and looks inside. At first sight, she can already tell that she would hate the place. She stares at all the frills and hearts while walking into the kitchen, which was already filled with different pastries, cakes and other desserts. She grabs a cookie and takes a bite.

"...Not bad. If I get this stuff for free, I might ignore the girl-fest that's all over this place."

She keeps looking around the place and walks down the hallway.

"Weird. There was no Closed sign so they have to be opened. Where are all the employees?"

She continues to walk until she sees a door marked with the word "basement" on it and opens it. She looks down and hesitantly walks down the stairs until she comes to another door marked "Lab." She opens it and sees nothing but a soft glow coming from the computer at the other side of the room. She walks towards it, sits in the chair and tries to read what's on the screen.

"It's all in English," she says as she clicks on the screen," I didn't think anyone at this place would know how to speak it...Hmmm...Mew Project. Must be some stupid operation name for this café...wait a minute."

She continues to scroll down the screen until she comes up to a list that says "Red Data." She clicks on it and a whole bunch of scientific names come up.

"Are these endangered species? So the owners of this place are nerds as well?" She continues to scroll down the list and stops near the bottom and reads," Newest specimen: Ophiophagus Hannah...hmmm..." She looks around until she sees a gun-like device marked with the same name with a book about snakes next to it. She picks it up and reads, "Ophiophagus Hannah, or King Cobra, mostly live in Southeast Asia. They're main diet consists of other snakes and sometimes small reptiles and rodents. Although they are not endangered, loss of habitat might make it a reality in the near future."

She puts the book down and picks up the injection gun.

"Doesn't look like there's anything in it...Reminds me of a water pistol," she says as she pulls the trigger.

Suddenly a bright flash comes from the gun, causing her to drop it. She closes her eyes as the light absorbs inside of her. Then the light suddenly goes out. She uncovers her eyes and looks down at the floor. She carefully picks up the injection gun and puts it back on the shelf.

"...so they're Sci-Fi obsessed too?" she asks herself as she goes back up the stairs. She then goes down the other hall until she goes to a door that says "Locker Room." She goes in and looks through the closets, looking at the dresses in disgust.

"There's only dresses here...," she sighs and goes to the other locker room and looks through. She then comes across a suit with a formal white shirt, brown slacks and black suspenders. She stares at it for a while,"...I wonder if girls where this stuff here too?" She goes through them and takes one out that was her size and tries it on.

She looks at herself in the mirror. "Not bad," she comments to herself and walks out and goes back into the kitchen and starts cooking. "I guess the only way to show I can do this job is to show them."

---------------------------------------

Keiichiro pulls the car up next to the café, unbuckles his seatbelt and gets out of the car. Ryou does the same and goes to the front café door, which he notices that he can open the door.

"Keiichiro?" he starts to ask.

"Yes, Ryou?"

"Did you lock the door and put the Closed sign on before we left?"

"...I didn't! I'm sorry, Ryou. The attack happened so suddenly that I rushed to the car to take you there. I guess I forgot to."

"No kidding."

As soon as Ryou opens the door, he sees that the kitchen is lit up and hears sounds coming from inside.

"Keiichiro, someone's inside."

Keiichiro walks up to Ryou and looks in the door.

"Do you think it's a thief?" Keiichiro asks.

"I'm not sure. Go to the back door. I'll try to get him and if he tries to run, I'll lead him to you and you grab him."

"Okay. Be careful."

Keiichiro runs to the back as Ryou goes inside the café. He creeps over to the doors suddenly swings them open.

"HEY!!! What do you think you're doing?!!" Ryou shouts.

The girl, still wearing the boy café uniform, turns around and looks at him while laying a tray of cookies on the stove. Ryou just stands there with a perplexed look on his face.

"You snuck in here just to cook?" he asks.

"...I'm here for a job."

Ryou's eyes nearly bulge out," You're a girl!?"

"Yes."

"Then why are you wearing that?!!"

She suddenly runs out of the kitchen. Keiichiro, who was running towards the kitchen bumps into her causing her to fall back to the floor.

"I'm sorry...," Keiichiro started to say but looks closer at her, "...you're a lady?"

"..."

"Wait!!" Ryou calls out as he runs out, "Keiichiro? What are you doing in here?"

"You were taking a while so I got worried that you got shot or something. What's a lady doing here?" Keiichiro asks. Then he tries to help her out but she slaps his hand away.

"She was cooking," Ryou answered," She said that she was looking for a job but I didn't get a chance to tell her that there aren't any openings for one."

Just then the front door opened and Ichigo and the other Mew Mews walk in. The first thing they see are Ryou, Keiichiro and a girl sitting on the floor between them.

Ichigo stares for a minute," Shirogane...is that a boy or a girl?"

"It's a girl," Ryou answers," She managed to get into the café because a certain someone forgot to lock the door."

"Sorry," Keiichiro apologized.

Ryou looks down at her, "Sorry but we don't have any openings. You're going to have to look elsewhere."

The girl gets up and gets her clothes, grabs her bag and walks out.

After the girl leaves, Ryou walks down the hall and into the lab while the girls went and got their café uniforms on. Keiichiro goes into the kitchen and starts cooking.

When Ryou goes into the lab and gets on the computer. He then notices that the images on the screen were different than what he left. He gets up and looks around the room and sees the injection gun. He immediately picks it up and notices that it's empty.

"KEIICHIRO!!!"

Keiichro immediately runs downstairs into the lab. He slams the door open,"What is it?!"

"We need to get that girl back. I think she took the King Cobra DNA."

"King Cobra...That's not even endangered."

"I know. But it was getting so close to becoming one that I decided to take a specimen so I wouldn't have to go through the trouble of getting one before it'd be too difficult to."

"Will there be any bad side-effects from being injected by animal DNA that's not endangered?"

"I'm not sure but we better get her so we can find out."

-------------------------------------

In a dark room filled with green fog, with remnants of buildings from old civilizations two figures talk to each other in the shadows while looking though a data device.

"I can't believe that our own people would make piece with the humans. This planet is ours and should only belong to us."

"I agree. The Mew Aqua that was brought was only able to restore a fourth of our world. It's not enough. What about the people who aren't registered to live there?"

"That's why we're here. The only sure way for us to survive is we succeed in taking back Earth but we didn't count on the Mew Mews still having their powers."

"I just hope that the communication's malfunction we made lasts long enough for us. We need to finish as soon as possible."

"I'll go collect more information."

One of the two teleports away, leaving the other one to look over the current information they have.

---------------------------------------

The girl walks along the park path looking for another café for a job. She stops suddenly and looks to the side. A mouse scurries by and she suddenly rushes to it, grabs it and puts it in her mouth.

Ryou, running through the park finally spots her.

"There she is!" he calls out to Keiichiro. He runs and grabs her shoulder,"Hey, I need to talk to you."

The girl turns around showing a mouse tail stinking out of her mouth. She stares at him blankly. Keiichiro runs up to them and notices.

"Is that...a mouse?" he asks while his face starts turning green.

"Spit it out!!" Ryou demands while smacking her on the back of the head.

She spits it out and the mouse lies motionless on the ground. Ryou picks it up and checks it.

"It's dead...by venom apparently," he stated while handing it to Keiichiro.

Keiichiro grabs it but then realizes that it's a dead mouse and drops it. "Eww!!" he shrieks while trying to clean his hands.

"Open your mouth," Ryou says while grabbing her chin.

The girl suddenly tries to punch him but he blocks it with his free hand. He then forces her mouth to open and looks inside.

"She has fangs," he stated as he lets go,"This is the first time that a test subject has a physical animal characteristic that shows all the time without transforming."

Keiichiro finishes cleaning his hands, "So she's a Mew Mew?"

"I'm not sure yet. Either it's that or it's just a side-effect," he answers and looks at her," What's your name?"

The girl looks down,"...Ténèbres."

"That's unusual. That doesn't sound Japanese or English."

"I think it's French," Keiichiro stated.

"...My parents were French," she confirmed his statement.

"Still looking for a job?"

The girl nods.

"Okay, you got a job as of today."

"...okay but only if you agree to 3 conditions."

"What would those be?" Keiichiro asks out of curiosity.

"1: I hate dresses so I'll wear the male uniform. 2: I get free dessert, and a free place to stay," she pauses for a bit," The last one is...I don't want anyone to talk to me...I hate the company."

After she says these 3 terms, she starts walking back to Café Mew Mew. She stops for a second,"And remember, this is only temporary. I'll work until I have enough money to leave the country." She then starts walking again.

Ryou sighs,"If only it were that easy..."

To Be Continued...


	2. Suspicion

Author's Note: When a character is talking to Ténèbres and their words are in _italics_, that means that the character is speaking Japanese and she doesn't understand it. Also, I'm not fluent in French, so forgive me if my French sentences are off a bit.

I hope to make updates a weekly thing from now on. I'm hoping to get this story finished so I can work on a sequel to "Musuko." Anyways, on with the story!!

**Verus Benevolentia: Chapter 2 - Suspicions**

Ichigo sighs as she finishes cleaning the store before the afternoon rush was about to begin. As she walked to the kitchen to put up the broom, a lot of things went though her mind.

"Who was that girl in the boy's uniform," she thought, "Why did she sneak into the café and why did Shirogane and Akasaka-san go after her? Not only that… What's going on with the aliens and why are we being attacked again…. OH NO!! I've been so worked up over this that I forgot about my date with Aoyama-kun tonight!!"

Her thoughts were soon interrupted by the sudden smell of smoke. Worry soon turned into panic as she sees the charred cinnamon buns in the oven.

"Buns on fire!! Buns on fire!!" Ichigo screams out loud.

Pudding suddenly bursts into the kitchen with a huge bucket," I'll put it out!!"

Ichigo looks down at Pudding annoyingly as the water both put out the fire and make her soaking wet at the same time.

"Thanks a lot," Ichigo says sarcastically.

"You're welcome, no da!" Pudding accepted without noticing.

"…I'm going to go change uniforms."

Ichigo stomps off into the locker room as Mint and Lettuce watch her pass by.

"Ichigo-san looks stressed out again today," Lettuce remarks.

Mint sighs as she drinks her tea, "She brings it on herself most of the time. It's not like we have to work here. It is just a cover after all. If she'd just learn that, she wouldn't have to works so hard."

Lettuce looks down, "I guess so but how else are the customers suppose to get their orders?"

Mint stays quiet for a second, "… How should I know? All I know is that you girls are covering for me and because of that, I don't need to work."

Lettuce stares at Mint in slight disbelief, "… but isn't that kind of… ," she suddenly stops herself," .. never mind. I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"N-Nothing!"

* * *

Ichigo walks into the locker room where she notices Berry trying to get her hair brushed but seems to be failing to be able to straighten it out. Ichigo goes over and takes the hairbrush.

Berry turns around in surprise, "Ichigo?"

Ichigo smiles at her, "I did say that I was going to help you with your hair when we got back, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's get this hair straightened out."

A short while later, as if it was magic, Berry's hair was as it was before. She stares at it from a mirror as it shines in the lamplight and strokes it gently.

"Ichigo, you're so amazing!"

"It's nothing special. By the way, I did notice that you seemed especially panicked about it today, which isn't like you at all. Is there anything special happening today?" Ichigo asks while getting out of her wet clothes.

Berry looks down, "Actually there is. Shirogane-san is letting us of work early today, so I was planning to…"

She is suddenly interrupted as the door bursts open and a silver-haired preteen boy jumps in and slides around in his rollerblades.

"Hi, Berry!! Are you ready for tonight?"

Berry's whole face turns red, "T-Tasuku!"

"Yep, that's me!" He confirms as he gives her a hug, "So, are you ready for tonight's date?"

"Tasuku?"

"Hmm?"

"You know that you're in the girl's locker room, right?"

"Of course, I do. What's wrong with tha…?" He looks over and notices Ichigo covering herself. He then laughs nervously, "Hehe… Sorry. I better get to work."

Tasuku then leaves just as fast as he came in. Ichigo then starts getting dressed as fast as she can.

"I'm really sorry about that," Berry apologizes.

"It's okay. He's spontaneous like that and full of surprises. I bet that's one of the reasons why you like him so much."

"I guess."

"I noticed that you're on a first name basis with him now."

"Yeah, he asked me to call him by his first name a few days ago."

"I think that's wonderful. It shows how much you mean to him and how close you two are."

"B-But, you haven't called Aoyama-kun by his first name yet."

"I know. I'm waiting for the right time. When I do, I want it to be a special occasion."

".. I see."

Ichigo then changes the subject, "So, you're nervous about a date tonight?"

"Yeah… He told me that I can choose wherever I want to go but I'm not sure where. I'm afraid I might pick a place he doesn't like."

"If you're nervous, how about I join you?"

"What?"

"Aoyama-kun and I haven't been able to have a date for a while either. So how about we come with you two for a double date?"

"Do you mean it? It won't inconvenience you two or anything?"

"Nope. To be honest, I was so busy thinking about our current mission that I sort of forgot that I even had a date tonight."

"I see," Berry smirked, "You're just trying to save yourself from getting scolded."

"No! Aoyama-kun would never scold me for forgetting. He's too kind of a guy to do that. If he wasn't, he would've gotten angry at me dozens of times."

Berry laughs a bit, "I was just kidding."

"Oh.."

"Anyways, we better hurry and get to work before Shirogane-san and Akasaka-san return."

"Yeah."

* * *

They both walk out of the locker room and head to the main café room. Ryou and Keiichiro come in with Ténèbres right when they came into the room. Ichigo walks up to them, noticing that the girl was keeping herself from looking at the rest of them in the eye.

"What's going on," Ichigo asks, "Why did you bring that girl back."

"She's staying with us for a while," Ryou answers, "She will also be working here."

"Does that mean she's a Mew Mew too?"

"Not exactly. The DNA she has isn't one of an endangered animal. I'm going to do a few experiments on her to see if there will be any side-effects."

"I see…"

"I better get to the lab to get a few things ready. Keiichiro, introduce the her to the other girls and make sure they all get to work."

"Okay, "Keiichiro says as Ryou goes down into the basement. Keiichiro then turns to the other girls and holds Ténèbres' hand, "Don't be shy."

Ténèbres pulls her hand away, "Don't touch me."

"Sorry…, " He then looks at the girls, "This is Ténèbres. It's French, so it's pronounced Ten-eb. She's not sure of what kind of job she wants, so we'll have her try being a waitress for the time being. So make sure to guide her on what to do."

Pudding stares at her for a while, "Akasaka Onii-san, is she going to wear that boy's uniform?"

"That was part of the deal to get her to stay."

"So, she prefers men's clothing?" Tasuku asked out loud. He then stares at her and gives her a thumbs up, _"Dare to be different! You rock!" _

Ténèbres just stares at him with cold eyes but then her attention goes over to Ichigo, walks towards her.

"_Welcome to the Café Mew Mew team. My name is Ichigo Momomiya. I hope we can learn to get along and become friends."_

Ténèbres stays quiet and then whispers to Keiichiro, "That's one of the reasons why I don't want to talk to anyone here."

"Hmm?" Keiichiro was confused.

She sighs with annoyance, "Je ne les comprends pas."

Keiichiro suddenly figured out the problem and then realized that he was talking to her in English the whole time.

He then talks to the girls, "It seems we might have a problem. Ténèbres can only speak English and French. So I guess being a waitress is out of the question. Looks like she'll be doing kitchen work and giving you girls the food."

Mint frowns, "Are you sure this will be a good idea? She doesn't seem to want to get along with us as it is. It'll be even harder for her to work here with a language barrier."

"We have no choice in the matter. As long as she stays in the kitchen, I'm sure there won't be many problems."

Zakuro, who stayed quiet and the whole time, continues to stare at Ténèbres.

She soon breaks her silence, "I'm not sure about this. I don't think she should stay here."

Ichigo, partially shocked that Zakuro joined the conversation askes, "Why do you say that?"

"We don't know who is causing all the attacks recently and all of a sudden, this girl, who most of us can't understand, comes in an infiltrates the lab and now has no choice but to stay. For all we know, she could be the enemy or at least working through them."

Berry shakes a bit but regains her composure, "I'm sure you're just over-thinking this. She's just a foreigner who doesn't understand what's going on," she then turns to Ténèbres, "Ne pas être offensé par ce qu'elle dit. Elle s'inquiète de l'équipe(Don't be offended by what she said. She's worried about the team)."

Ténèbres is slightly shocked that Berry knew French but keeps herself from showing it and looks away, "Je ne comprenais pas ce qu'elle a dit. Je n'ai donc pas de soins(I don't understand what she said. I don't care)."

With that, Ténèbres goes into the kitchen, leaving the others to stare and wondered what just happened.

"We better be careful with her," Zakuro stated.

"I agree with you Onee-sama," Mint replies.

"Why am I not surprised?" Ichigo asks.

"There's no need to be suspicious, "Keiichiro tries to lighten the mood, "I'm sure she's just shy and just acts like that to hide it."

The clock suddenly chimes showing that it was 1 PM, the afternoon rush.

"We better get back to work," Keiichiro says as he goes into the kitchen.

Ichigo and the others remained deep in thought for a couple of minutes but they all stopped once the first customer came in. Ichigo then put on a smile as she met the customer at the front desk.

"Welcome to Café Mew Mew! How may I serve you today?

* * *

The green haze of the alternate dimension still filled the air as a young, alien man with shoulder length brown hair sits in the center of the room, examining the data he collected earlier that day. But he found it hard to concentrate on his work due to racing thoughts of concern and anxiety. He tapped his foot nervously as another young man with red hair in a loose ponytail, wearing a long, buttoned red robe with a vest over it. The young man immediately gets up from his spot.

"How is she," He asks, slightly concerned.

"She's as well as can be expected despite the current condition she's in. What I still don't understand is why you even brought her along in the first place. Our government didn't authorize us to leave. Now that means both you and her are in danger if we get caught."

"I know… It's just that it's our first, you know? I'd be more nervous about it if she wasn't here with me. So nervous that I wouldn't be able to do any of my work."

"Hmph. Just be grateful that I actually had a few medical classes before we left or she wouldn't have been able to come at all."

"I am…"

"Then get some work done. My computer sources tell me that some of the Mew Mews and a Mew Aqua source will be at this location tonight," He holds up a device with a dot pointing at the spot, "I want you to go there, attack and take the Mew Aqua."

"I understand."

The robed young man started to walk off towards his room. The other watched him.

"Torte?"

The man stops and looks back at him, "What is it, Crêpe?"

"Thanks."

Torte nods and walks off into the darkness of the hallway and into his room.

* * *

About a couple of hours later, the customers start to leave Café Mew Mew. Ichigo and the other Mew Mews finish cleaning up and putting the dishes in the kitchen while Ténèbres started washing them, still with the same cold expression on her face.

"Let's go, Berry," Ichigo said, "We'll get dressed and go on our double date once Aoyama-kun gets here."

Berry smiles, "Okay."

They both walk into the locker room together. Zakuro stays out while the other Mew Mews and Tasuku to go in the locker rooms. Keiichiro finishes storing the left over cakes and pastries and leaves the kitchen.

"I'm going to check on Ryou to see if he's made any progress," he states as he walks to the basement.

Zakuro then goes into the kitchen and stands across the room, staring at Ténèbres. Ténèbres remains quiet as she cleans.

Zakuro then proceeds to speak to her, "Why are you here?"

Ténèbres ignores her and puts another dirty tray into the soapy water.

Zakuro, for the first time, gets impatient, "Je sais que vous pouvez me comprendre(I know that you can understand me)."

"…. So, you can speak French as well. Are there any others that secretly can speak French that I don't know about?"

"No, just Berry and me. Now, why are you here?"

"I just needed a job."

"Then why did you go into the lab when you first got here?"

"… my stupid curiosity got the better of me. A mistake that I won't make again."

"So… you don't know anything?"

"Other than the fact that you all seem to take your waitress work too seriously, there's nothing worth knowing."

Zakuro then walks out of the kitchen without saying another word and thinks to herself, "So, she doesn't even know about the Mew Project. I wonder how those 2 are going to explain that to her."

Ichigo and Berry get out of their café uniforms and put on their casual clothes. Tasuku once again bursts into the room causing Lettuce, Mint and Pudding to try to cover themselves and scream.

Tasuku yells with a huge smile on his face, "ARE YOU READY BERRY?!!"

Berry blushes with embarrassment, "Tasuku, will you please stop that?!"

Tasuku looks at the other Mew Mews and blushes slightly, "Sorry again… But when I think of you, you're the only one I see in the room."

Berry's face softens as she gives him a kiss on the cheek, "You're so sweet."

* * *

Meanwhile, Aoyama was waiting outside of the café. But, instead of his usual smile, he was thinking about the dreams he had been having recently.

"Why am I dreaming like this again? The Deep Blue side of me is gone, so it can't be him. Could a new, dangerous threat be coming? Will Ichigo be directly involved? Will I be the cause again?… That can't be. All of the Mew Mews are in my dreams and the one crying is a girl in shadow that I've never seen before… Sad but full of hatred for everything around her."

Suddenly, the front door of the café opens up and Ichigo, Berry and Tasuku walks out. Aoyama then smiles at them to hide any concern that he was having.

Ichigo smiles back, "Hey, Aoyama-kun! I hope you don't mind but I was wondering if Berry and Tasuku-kun could join us on a double date?"

Aoyama looks over at them as Tasuku whispers something in Berry's ear, causing her to giggle. Seeing them at their first bonds of love was calming to him, helping him forget the worries that he had a minute before.

He smiles gently at Ichigo, "Sure, I don't mind."

Ichigo beams with joy, "Let's go then! I know a great restaurant we can go to!"

Ichigo skips off humming to herself while the others follow her but, unknown to them, they were being followed by a certain stranger…

To be continued…


End file.
